Airbnb Deletes Negative Reviews, Favors Hosts

This is an echo of the same stories other guests had. I just want a way to let Airbnb know as they don’t seem to hear. I had a great experiences with Airbnb hosts for a few years. I always left the place very tidy and clean. I respect these are the hosts’ homes and livelihoods perhaps. I think there are some really picky people out there who pay for three-star services and expecting five-star treatment. I believe in honesty. However, I suppose any comment would possibly be taken personally by a host as it is their own home or livelihood and Airbnb is a way to help pay for their mortgage. Usually I try to be gentle.

I had a two-week road trip in the UK recently from tip to tip. We had great experiences, and honestly we just wanted to have a clean place with our own bathroom and toilet, in a quiet location… a place that appears the same as we see in the pictures. We also needed a place to boil some drinking water. We didn’t expect to have breakfast or meals there.

The place we stayed at Cornwall was not the cheapest nor the most expensive: a double bed with no views for £60 a night with no breakfast. It was advertised as two minutes from a cliff with a great view. The reviews there since May 2016 (about one year’s worth) have been 100% positive and still are since our visit. There was a friendly host, great place, etc.

However, on the night we arrived, we found out that it was a shared bathroom/toilet situation and we didn’t know that this was something Airbnb hosts don’t have to disclose. Most hosts would based on our favourable experiences. The host mentioned part of their home was closed at night for their family’s own use, i.e. their best selling point – the balcony – overlooking the sea cliff was only available in the morning. We were fine with that. We are pretty much out most of the day anyway.

Here is what we disclosed from our experience on our review:

1. There was no toilet paper in the shared toilet on the night we arrived. It was all used up. We didn’t want to bother the hosts, so we waited until the morning to tell them.
2. No wifi password was provided on arrival and we forgot to ask when we first met. We texted them to leave us the password in our bedroom during dinner. They did but it was on a card with writing so blurry you could hardly read it. We took a picture with our iPhone, blew it up, and could finally make out what it was.
3. The second day we were there, the other guests left the bin in the shared toilet full. It is the only bin which we have access to at night. They must have left it there the whole day since check out is in the morning and we found the rubbish at night after we returned around midnight. We messaged the host in their own home on the second floor to ask where we should put the rubbish. Our intention was not to mess up anyone’s home. We would like to respect their privacy but not go into their closed kitchen and lounge area. We didn’t leave all these gory details; we just suggested they could provide a bin in each room so that guests could leave rubbish. The small bin in the toilet may not have been enough.
4. We didn’t feel that the nicest part of the house was available to us as they left the door closed in the morning and didn’t quite tell us on our arrival that it would be okay to walk right in anytime before certain hours. This is the point to which they objected and thus Airbnb removed my review
5. The area that we got to see the most often was the room which faced a wall of the garage. The bathroom could be heard clearly from our room. There was no mention of any of this in the listing of course; we commented on this.
6. The bathroom was shared and not mentioned on the listing.

Airbnb removed our review based on this last point as well. What we only mentioned privately was we were badly bitten by some sort of insects which we are pretty sure happened at their property; the redness and itchiness appeared at least 30 minutes after we had left. The host vehemently denied it of course. Now I know better after reading this website. Airbnb is much more concerned about insect attacks than any of the neglectfulness we experienced. What I feel is most unjust and sour about this Airbnb experience is the host said we should be in a hotel and not use airbnb at all.

Airbnb said I cannot mention the shared bathroom was not disclosed, since they want to hide that fact, obviously. The host said that my comment about the accessibility of the nice balcony was incorrect. It is a bit of he said-she said I suppose. However, if Airbnb had looked into my history, they would have seen I was never vindictive towards any host. The whole review was taken out and Airbnb tried to call me once to explain or discuss the situation. I feel that they really should have done better to help expose the truth here for their user experience which was what made them stand out in the first place.

On the other hand, I had then stayed with another host two days later where they had a lodger just below us banging the ceiling and shouting at us when we were just taking showers. We still rated them five stars because they were friendly and helpful; they didn’t know their lodger was doing this. We told them the next day. The place was otherwise fantastic. The price was reasonable. We didn’t leave any bad remarks. In addition, Airbnb protecting these Cornwall hosts bad mouthing us by leaving us a bad review ‘saying that we should have stayed at a hotel’ when they are just providing service worse than that of a hostel at a price I think 40% above a hostel rate is leaving me a sour taste. It is bad business for the hosts who are doing the right things as well.

Airbnb Removes Negative Reviews and Host Scams Guests!

We booked through airbnb on the beginning of February in a small country house in Bolu, Turkey. We had an okay vacation; other than the lack of heat due to the broken electrical heatings and missing firewood. As we started our journey back, the host started to harass us via phone; claiming we damaged the heating devices, some tiles in a bathroom and burned her couches and carpet. She also told us that we did not clean up after ourselves. We informed her that those damages were present before we arrived, and we did not clean up after ourselves because the house was not clean to begin with and we paid a cleaning fee for that sole purpose only. She told us that the tile was broken, but was glued, and the glue came off. And asked us if we would leave our aunts house like this!? Our aunt doesn’t charge us 1200 for 3 nights we answered. THEN the nightmare began.

The host accused us of damaging the house, and demanded a payment of 1600 Turkish Liras (approximately $500 American dollars). Both parties left negative reviews on each others profiles, and the case was escalated to airbnb for resolution. We say we did not do the damage in question, and since the house was a village house with broken and burnt places everywhere, we did not feel the responsibility to take pictures of every broken or burnt thing in the house. And that there is no proof we did the damages in question. She on the other hand, presented pictures of the damages (and some ridiculous things like forgotten underwear – which she keeps bringing up; are we to pay for her lost innocence as a maiden? But this is Turkey I guess), and continued to leave bad reviews everywhere. Added some references (her friends I am guessing?) in her profile.

Today Airbnb sent us an email informing us that our negative review is to be removed because extortion! Arguing that we threatened the host to write a bad review. 1) That’s what the host says, and there is no proof of that since we did not exhort her in anyway. 2) Airbnb is probably taking her side. And they have a right to charge our credit cards( apparently with no limits) and they can do that at any time. I really believe in the responsibility of the accuser to prove the accusation; and since there is no proof that the damages were undertaken on our stay there; I still hope that the airbnb team will not force us to pay for her house renovation, but I am getting less hopeful each day.

But the immediate problem is that; OUR REVIEW WAS DELETED! If airbnb removes negative reviews on hosts, how can people make sure that the house they are staying is any good? What happens when the next guest is accused of false damage claims by this host. They will not see my review! So airbnb continues to make money, and everyone is happy? No. I will not be using airbnb from now on, whatever the solution to this damage claim. I refuse to give the right to fine me to a company. That right belongs to the judicial authorities, and they take action based on real proof; not hearsay. In this case the money is not as important as the accusations to our character; which the host’s review contains and remains in our page until this is over and we close our account for good.

AIRBNB DELETES NEGATIVE REVIEWS

If you’re wondering if negative reviews get deleted by Airbnb, it is absolutely true. All the host has to do is telephone a representative they communicate with and explain why the negative criticism they received is nothing more than made up gibberish. During a recent stay at a Airbnb, the host showed me how easy it is to request a rating/review to be removed. The host complained about every previous guest. It makes you wonder what the host has in order for you after your departure. I encourage you to read the many reviews on the Airbnb website and you’ll find it quite hard to find a negative review based on bad experiences. 99% of the guests cannot have a “wonderful” experience, not even at a five star hotel. In addition, if you’re looking for privacy, as you would in a hotel, Airbnb is not for you. There are hosts that have locations that are completely host-free. It’s best to contact the host and ask how private your stay will be, while hoping the host doesn’t consider your question as offensive. In addition, remember that many hosts open their rooms because they’re either quite poor and want to execute Martial Law to their guests. I am in no way suggesting that guests should be wasteful, but keep in mind that you are paying for the room, paying for cleaning fee, requested to make a donation if you launder clothes, etc. Give it a try and experience what the pros and cons are. Unless you’re on a strict budget, you may find it much better to stay at a reputable hotel.